Top British newspaper says no to using 'Mumbai', Shiv Sena dared to challenge the move

Wednesday February 10, 2016 10:50 PM, Agencies

Mumbai/London: Internet and social media users Wednesday dared Shiv Sena - the party known for violent response to rivals and political opponents, to challenge the decision by The Independent - top British newspaper, to use 'Bombay' instead of Mumbai while referring to India's financial capital.

"When is Shiv Sena burning an effigy of The Independent?" Ankur Bhardwaj wrote using his Twitter handler @Bhayankur.

Ankur's tweet came in response came after the editor of The Independent Amol Rajan said that his newspaper would revert to using the colonial name “Bombay” instead of “Mumbai” while referring to India’s financial capital.

Rajan, who was born in Kolkata, told the BBC: "If you call [the city] it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them...I'd rather side with the tradition of India that's been open to the world, rather than the one that's been closed, which is in ascendance right now."

Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1995 after the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party won the assembly elections in Maharashtra, of which the city is the capital.

Their victory came against the backdrop of bloody religious riots in 1992-93 that left more than 900 people dead, the majority of them Muslim.

The official inquiry committee set up to investigate the violence named several Shiv Sena leaders among those responsible for the deaths.

Hailing the decision of The Independent, Gayatri Jayaraman tweeted, "Lovely move by a London newspaper. The romance must be thrilled.."

But, there are others who mocked the controversial decision.

"Waiting for those on the Left to cheer but wait, what about Kolkata? Bombay or Mumbai, nobody dare touch Kozhikode, ok?", Ramesh Ramachandaran wrote using @RRRameshRRR.